|Where we live, it snowed from morning till night on the day before
Thanksgiving. Papa and John, our hired man, got the double sleigh down
from the loft, where it had been resting all summer. I don't think it
was tired, but it rested all the same.
Old Kate and Charley were harnessed, and they were as frisky as young
lambs. They seemed to know it was Thanksgiving, and were as happy as the
children. We were all wrapped up in thick, warm clothes, and packed in
the sleigh. Large as it was, we filled it quite full.
We all went to church first. Do you know what Thanksgiving means? The
good people who first came to make their homes in New England set apart
a day and called it by this name. In the autumn, after the corn had been
gathered, the apples picked, and the vegetables put in the cellar, they
felt very thankful to God for all these good things. They fixed a time
to meet in the churches to give thanks to God. They gave thanks in
prayers, in hymns, and in sermons. They had a good dinner on that day,
and were as happy as they could be. The children and the children's
children went home to spend the day. It was the home festival.
People do not go to church so much as they did, but it is still the
home festival. We went to church; and after that we all had a long
sleigh-ride to Grandpa's. Uncle George and Aunt Lucy were there, and
cousins were almost as plenty as the snowflakes the day before.
We played "blind-man's buff" before dinner. We laughed and screamed, and
rolled and tumbled on the floor. Grandpa and Grandma sat laughing at us,
as happy as we were.
The great event of the day was the dinner. Grandpa sat at the head of
the table in his arm-chair. Some of the children thought he never would
get his knife sharp enough to carve the turkey. Flora, the maid, brought
it in. All the little ones screamed when she put it on the table. It was
a very large turkey, and was nicely browned. We never saw anything that
looked so good.
The turkey tasted as good as it looked. For ten minutes the children did
not scream or laugh out loud. I suppose their mouths were too full. Then
we had to eat plum pudding and four kinds of pies. We did not feel so
much like it as we did. I am afraid we ate all we could rather than all
we needed.
After dinner Grandma told us about her little ones. We all wanted to
know where they were now. Grandma laughed, and pointed to Uncle George,
Papa, and Aunt Lucy. We could hardly believe they were ever little
things like us. Then Grandpa told us how he killed a great bear near the
old house ever so many years before.
Uncle George showed us how to play "London Bridge." Some of us were
parts of the bridge, and some of us went under it. After that we played
"snap-apple." Aunt Lucy tied an apple by a string to the ceiling, and we
bit at it Every time we bit, the apple flew away from us. It was great
fun.
After supper the "day was over" with the little ones. We could not keep
our eyes open, and some of us slept all the way home in that double
sleigh. I know I dreamed about that long table at dinner, and thought we
were playing "snap-apple" with the big roast turkey.
That Thanksgiving was many, many years ago, and some of those mites of
little ones that played "London Bridge" are grandpas and grandmas now.
--UNCLE FRED.